Welcome to DBSTalk

Welcome to DBSTalk. Our community covers all aspects of video delivery solutions including: Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS), Cable Television, and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). We also have forums to discuss popular television programs, home theater equipment, and internet streaming service providers. Members of our community include experts who can help you solve technical problems, industry professionals, company representatives, and novices who are here to learn.

Like most online communities you must register to view or post in our community. Sign-up is a free and simple process that requires minimal information. Be a part of our community by signing in or creating an account. The Digital Bit Stream starts here!

Have DTV for 10 years but thinking of making the switch since we can save some bucks and our prized TIVO is dying. We have had it for years, maybe 5, and she has never had a problem but now reboots all the time.

So we might get an HDTV and move to dish.

I found this site and LOVE all the info, wow.

Anyway, I have a newbie question.

We just changed from ATT to Comcast for internet and phone. When we signed up they wanted a SSN for some reason per the web sign up. OK no problem I guess.

But DISH in their process flow to sign up shows they want a credit card with an "amount due now". Am I paying for something not even installed yet?

What am I missing. I have talked to a sles person there when I first started investigating other options. We like DISH, a lot. We would want the 722.

I told the guy call me back next (this) Friday after I complete my research of u-verse etc.

Well I get a call from a different guy at DISH and he offers $75 MORE in discounts if we sign up today or tomorrow, but he asked for all this info. But it does seem what he was asking for is the same as the website.

So my question is, need to learn to post shorter, is why do they need a CC and doesn't your billing cycle start AFTER you have service?

With Comcast we had it for a month before I paid a mailed bill to us and then we signed up for auto-pay, like all our other bills.

I guess they don't have a 30 day money back guarantee, I asked about that, if the jump from our tivo is too steep.

Anyway, found this forum and thought I would ask about the billing. I just called them but was on hold a long time so hung up and typed this out.

Our billing is in advance depending upon the type account you qualify for. The billing doesn't begin until the installation is completed. The cc is for qualification purposes. Please let me know if you have further questions. Thanks.

Have DTV for 10 years but thinking of making the switch since we can save some bucks and our prized TIVO is dying. We have had it for years, maybe 5, and she has never had a problem but now reboots all the time.

So we might get an HDTV and move to dish.

I found this site and LOVE all the info, wow.

Anyway, I have a newbie question.

We just changed from ATT to Comcast for internet and phone. When we signed up they wanted a SSN for some reason per the web sign up. OK no problem I guess.

But DISH in their process flow to sign up shows they want a credit card with an "amount due now". Am I paying for something not even installed yet?

What am I missing. I have talked to a sles person there when I first started investigating other options. We like DISH, a lot. We would want the 722.

I told the guy call me back next (this) Friday after I complete my research of u-verse etc.

Well I get a call from a different guy at DISH and he offers $75 MORE in discounts if we sign up today or tomorrow, but he asked for all this info. But it does seem what he was asking for is the same as the website.

So my question is, need to learn to post shorter, is why do they need a CC and doesn't your billing cycle start AFTER you have service?

With Comcast we had it for a month before I paid a mailed bill to us and then we signed up for auto-pay, like all our other bills.

I guess they don't have a 30 day money back guarantee, I asked about that, if the jump from our tivo is too steep.

Anyway, found this forum and thought I would ask about the billing. I just called them but was on hold a long time so hung up and typed this out.

It's been a loooooong time since the first bill was a 2 month bill. A new customers 1st bill is paid prior to activation with all following bills due prior to each subsequent service month.

Dont forget that Directv has a new Tivo model that is HD....you could kill 2 birds with one stone and keep what you're accustomed to.

Cheap post to get over 5 here

Yes I called retention at DTV and the offer wasn't so good. So I made the change. My wife says the jump from dual buffer tivo might be large for we will see. We did want to try to get to that tivo HD like you said.

The BIG thing that has me worried, and I don't think the TIVO to 722 will be THAT bad, is I got a call from dish Wednesday, I talked to them the previous Firday, and they said if you sign up today or tomorrow I can give you an additional $75 credit. It would be applied as $44 the second month and $31 the 3d month. I could not pass that up. The agent said call back this # leave a message and I will call you back. Well I did, he remembered me, but then it was strange conversation and he was like you are all set welcome to dish network.

Also, I wanted to make sure I get the 722, NOT the hopper. It didn't give me a chance to pick a DVR. So the agent said "you will get a 722". I said yeah I won't let the installer install without a 722. I would prefer the 722k.

So my 2 Dish issues are a) the aditional $75 being applied, my wife will kill me if we don't get that and how can I ensure I get a 722.

When I look online it says my equipment due to come is a Hopper and 1 joey. We have a 2nd TV in the basement that is used like once a month, if that. So the 722 is perfect.

Anyway, thanks for the replies, this site is awesome. I love the whole eastern and western arc stuff on the satellites.

Dish really needs to make the Joeys available without a monthly fee. There is simply no reason for an outlet fee, other than wanting to extract every dollar they can from customers.

Well they have to pay to have those Joeys manufactured for them somehow, it's not like they get them free, plus they have to pay techs for their labor when installing them and of course the more outlets the longer the install takes and the more they have to pay the tech to get the job done. So they've decided they way to do it is that anyone that wants to have them pay extra per month. Seems fair to me as the other obvious way to do it would be to just have a general programming price increase. Seems to me the people who want more equipment and a bigger install should pay more and not have those of us with only one tv pay more to subsidize people with 6 tv installs.

"The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair." - Douglas Adams

"Who would rule a nation when he could have easier work, such as carrying water uphill in a sieve?" - Robert Jordan

Dish really needs to make the Joeys available without a monthly fee. There is simply no reason for an outlet fee, other than wanting to extract every dollar they can from customers.

That said, are you using the 2nd TV at the same time as the 1st? If not, then the Hopper could serve two TVs just as well as the 722.

For $11 more a month, it isn't worth it. We literally use the one downstairs once a month, max, maybe once every 2 months. So being able to record something upstairs and then watch it if needed is fine. Matt here on this site made the changes to get me the 722, when I could not pick it originally. I also understand the accounting of what happened, so all good. We will see how install goes. I hope to get the installer to remove old dish and install this one maybe at same site so no roof changes.

I read a thread that simply said "negotiate" with your installer to see if they can use the dtv support but it said not to remove the bottom plate. I will see what I can do on that when the time comes.

For $11 more a month, it isn't worth it. We literally use the one downstairs once a month, max, maybe once every 2 months. So being able to record something upstairs and then watch it if needed is fine. Matt here on this site made the changes to get me the 722, when I could not pick it originally. I also understand the accounting of what happened, so all good. We will see how install goes. I hope to get the installer to remove old dish and install this one maybe at same site so no roof changes.

I read a thread that simply said "negotiate" with your installer to see if they can use the dtv support but it said not to remove the bottom plate. I will see what I can do on that when the time comes.

Hope your not a sports lover switching to DISH. If so you will most likely be unhappy.

Hope your not a sports lover switching to DISH. If so you will most likely be unhappy.

I would have agreed but the lines on that are blurred now.(NY market excluded)Dish has some sports Direct TV does not, neither has the new LA Lakers channel. While Direct TV does have full time RSN's, Dish this year was 90% better at getting the actual games in HD, what most people really want. And Dish has the Red Zone for $7, Direct TV does not offer it unless you get the full NFL Sunday package. (Yes there are some exceptions, some have managed to get it)

If Sports is the ONLY reason, then yes Direct TV still is the leader, including having the NFL package, full time HD RSN's, and most games on alternate channels in HD, with Dish Alternate is more hit and miss. For the majority of people who like sports but it's not the first priority, it's not as much a difference as it was.

I would have agreed but the lines on that are blurred now.(NY market excluded)Dish has some sports Direct TV does not, neither has the new LA Lakers channel. While Direct TV does have full time RSN's, Dish this year was 90% better at getting the actual games in HD, what most people really want. And Dish has the Red Zone for $7, Direct TV does not offer it unless you get the full NFL Sunday package. (Yes there are some exceptions, some have managed to get it)

If Sports is the ONLY reason, then yes Direct TV still is the leader, including having the NFL package, full time HD RSN's, and most games on alternate channels in HD, with Dish Alternate is more hit and miss. For the majority of people who like sports but it's not the first priority, it's not as much a difference as it was.

Lakers channel is coming any day/minute now. Twitter - DIRECTV ‏@DIRECTVWe have an agreement to carry #TWCSportsNet on Ch: 691 in time for the next game (Friday 11/16).LA Times - http://www.latimes.c...,0,334249.story

If you stop responding to them or put them on ignore, then eventually they'll go away.

Yeah I had Center Ice for a few seasons but with this channel mix it has versus (now NBC sports) and NHL network.

So IF they play hockey again, I think I am fine. I don't have NHL network now on DTV. About a week to install date.

The one thing my wife asked me, and I like to cover all the bases, is how does the remote change the channel with no hardware on the 2nd tv, if we use it.

It is a sony trinitron from the early 2000's. So with the only "box" upstairs, I told her I asked when I called and they said a remote from dish. But the remote from dish tells the sony what to do? I didn't have a great answer on that one. But it's all good, looking forward to the change.

Not worried about it. As a sports lover, no way I would go to DISH. Lack of Sunday Ticket, MLB Extra Innings, Mega March Madness, Full Time FSN's, etc. All of that is more then enough for me to say thanks but no thanks. Sunday Ticket is a deal breaker for me no matter what.

Yeah I had Center Ice for a few seasons but with this channel mix it has versus (now NBC sports) and NHL network.

So IF they play hockey again, I think I am fine. I don't have NHL network now on DTV. About a week to install date.

The one thing my wife asked me, and I like to cover all the bases, is how does the remote change the channel with no hardware on the 2nd tv, if we use it.

It is a sony trinitron from the early 2000's. So with the only "box" upstairs, I told her I asked when I called and they said a remote from dish. But the remote from dish tells the sony what to do? I didn't have a great answer on that one. But it's all good, looking forward to the change.

It depends on how you connect the 2nd TV to the 722 and if you have the 722 in single or Dual mode. Most likely you will feed the TV2 UHF output from the 722 to the TV and then change the channels using the TV2 Remote (supplied) from Dish - it is RF so works pretty far away and can be extended with a splitter if you have spare coax installed. If you leave the 722 in Single mode so you have Dual Live Buffers I believe you flip the key over in the TV2 Remote to make it a TV1 UHF remote and it changes the channel. In single mode the same channel is shown on both TVs, in Dual you can watch different channels / recordings on both TVs but you lose dual live buffers.

Well they have to pay to have those Joeys manufactured for them somehow, it's not like they get them free, plus they have to pay techs for their labor when installing them and of course the more outlets the longer the install takes and the more they have to pay the tech to get the job done. So they've decided they way to do it is that anyone that wants to have them pay extra per month. Seems fair to me as the other obvious way to do it would be to just have a general programming price increase. Seems to me the people who want more equipment and a bigger install should pay more and not have those of us with only one tv pay more to subsidize people with 6 tv installs.

All of the above items you've listed are one-time, fixed costs. If you want to argue that the dumb devices + installation is $168, fine. But then drop the fee at the end of the 2-year contract. There is no reason to charge somebody a fee for 7 years when there are no real ongoing costs associated with it.

A second Hopper, on the other hand, with 3 additional tuners and the ability to record and consume much more content, does justify a $7/month charge.

Ok thanks. So to get ANYTHING, live or recorded, on tv2 you must be in dual or is that if and only if you are using tv1 for anything at the same time.

I know that we have a multi-switch for DTV and there are 2 cable runs currently to each box. So this should be easy on the installer.

All of the outputs (HDMI, Component Video, Composite Video, RF Distribution, S-Video) on the 722 are active at the same time and in single mode they all output the exact same signal. There is no way to view two different things from the 722 at the same time in Single Mode. In dual mode the TV2 output (Coax for Home Distribution) displays whatever TV2 is set to (live or recorded program).